Sketchy Characters
by Spring Zephyr
Summary: Chloé asks Nathanaël to draw a picture of her. Nathanaël is pretty sure it's a trick.


**This is what I did instead of take notes in math class.**

 **I specialize in "it's shippy if you squint and not shippy if you don't" stories, so here's a story about Chloé asking for art. What I've learned through reviews on previous stories is that most people like to read them as shippy... or that non-shippers never leave reviews.**

Chloé was infamous among their class for giving orders, but somehow Nathanaël was still caught by surprise.

"Could you repeat – "

"Draw my picture!" Chloé 'helpfully' obliged. "What, did I start speaking Chinese?"

Nathanaël briefly wondered if the language choice was related to her dislike of Marinette, or if that was completely unrelated. But if he didn't answer soon, Chloé was going to take his head off next. Heck, she might do it anyway.

"What was that thing you said last week?" Nathanaël grumbled absent-mindedly. "'Paris has enough artists already, you're never going' – "

"I never said that," Chloé interrupted.

Oh, she'd definitely said it. What was the trick – deface his drawing, run crying to the principal, and demand his sketchbooks be taken away? Or just hang it up in the hallways so everyone could laugh at the amateur comic artist like a normal high school bully?

'Maybe I should just draw the horns on myself,' he mused dryly. 'Just to move it along quicker.'

"My daddy could probably talk to some people though," Chloé hinted, with the same sly smile she probably gave babies right before she stealing candy out of their hands. His mind raced trying to come up with all of the reasons why _not_ to believe her. "Maybe some people that could help move your art career along a little bit..."

"You know I only draw cartoons, right?" Nathanaël blurted.

"That's fine!"

She pulled out a chair, and plopped down next to him, almost before finishing the sentence.

It was probably a trick, but it wouldn't hurt to leave out the pitchfork and devilish mustache one time, right? It didn't even have to be a very detailed pic –

Selecting a clean sheet of paper from his binder, Nathanaël gave in to the urge to draw. His pencil raced along his canvas, blocking out the basic features – face shape, eyes, nose, mouth – with practiced ease. As soon as the sketch was complete, he picked up a colored pencil.

His art was very efficient today. Most people didn't realize it, unless they were artists themselves, but it wasn't like Nathanaël could will himself to draw well. This was one of the rare days where everything seemed to be going the way he wanted, and the feeling was exhilarating in spite of who he was drawing for. Maybe because it wasn't even a very detailed pic –

There.

Blond hair, sunglasses, fake tan, _done_. All the while, Chloé had never stopped babbling about some thing or another.

"You finished already?" Chloé asked, with a hint of surprise.

It was just a headshot, of course it wouldn't have taken very long. Nathanaël slid the paper closer to her, staring at the surface of his sketchbook defensively. "That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

He held his breath, feeling the ball of regret that was forming in his stomach. This was a mistake, he'd known this would be a mistake all along and he'd – he'd still drawn the picture for her.

"I love it," Chloé said, in a near perfect imitation of sincerity.

 _Wait._

She actually _looked_ sincere also.

Nathanaël jolted upright, wondering if anyone else had heard that. Chloé already had her back turned to him, and it didn't look like she'd noticed his dramatic reaction – but that was normal. In fact, that was the only normal thing about this situation. Everyone else was either too busy doing their homework or talking to friends, or simply waiting in boredom for class to start, to confirm whether or not Nathanaël was even awake right now. Which he assumed he was, it certainly felt like he was – up until a couple of seconds ago, at least.

He lifted out of his daze just in time to hear Chloé squealing "Sabrina, I can't believe you were right!" several feet away. "Being nice _does_ work! He drew my nose too wide though..."

Which managed to answer all of the dozens of questions currently bouncing around Nathanaël's mind except one, the newest:

What part of that was _nice_?

 **Hopefully that ending sounds as witty in writing as it did in my head.**

 **Zephyr is slowing making progress towards a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction over 1,000 words long! (For most other fandoms, I rarely post stories under 1k.) I had a lengthier rough draft, but it ruined the pacing.**


End file.
